By Raymond Kongwa,Guardian Staff Reporter

When land-based design and planning firm EDAW kicked off of its Summer Student Programme in Nassau one week ago, it was facilitating, as it had it done for the last 20 years, a process by which an elite group of graduate students, representing a wide cross-section of top universities and countries, could have the opportunity to work with one of the world's foremost companies in the industry. However, for this city and its Central Business District, there was an even greater significance.

Bay Street and Downtown Nassau were seeing the onset of an important part of the much talked-about and anticipated transformation of the area. The process Prime Minister Perry Christie had so often mentioned as being central to the necessary transformation, was to have its concept take form. Using information collected by EDAW, the 19-member group of students – 16 at graduate level — and the rest of the SSP team would start to develop the strategies.

Speaking on Friday at EDAW's site studio in the heart of Bay Street, the company's vice president, principle in its Atlanta office and director of SSP Todd Hill, told The Guardian the project was moving at its planned pace. The challenge for the group at this phase "is to keep our pace," he said.

In an attempt to learn from both residents of Nassau and visitors calling on the city's ports, the elements they would want in a transformed downtown, the group separated in small segments and on Tuesday went to the streets and conducted interviews.

"What came out of the interviews was how to celebrate Bahamian culture — both contemporary Bahamian culture and historic heritage — and basically create a platform on which this activity can happen. Where (Bahamians) naturally interact with visitors, and visitors are attracted to that," said Mr Hill, who himself was a participant of EDAW's SSP in 1985.

One of the most important aims of the process, he said, was to inspire in Bahamians, a sense of ownership and pride in the community. "Ownership in property, ownership and pride in the community, ownership with the notion that you should take responsibility for the island itself — and its safety and security."

Project manager of the summer programme, another former SSP participant, Anyeley Hallová emphasised the diversity of the 19 participants. "They are from all over the United States and the world," she said, "it's a good mix of diversity, and that's one of our main points — we want to get students not only with a diversity in skills, but a diversity in location."

"In all of the steps, all of the processes that we do, they work in mixed discipline groups. We don't have all the landscape designers together, or all of the planners." This approach, she said ensured physical, economical, and social compatibility. "We mix it up so they can contribute to the overall plan. That's one of our main principles at EDAW — an interdisciplinary approach."

On Friday, the SSP will present its formal presentation to EDAW management, the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas, government officials, academics and stakeholders. This preliminary conceptual plan will then be used by EDAW's professional team in creating a more advanced master plan. The final work is scheduled to be completed between December 2004 and January 2005.